Music of the Baroque concert from the Chicago River a spectacular twist on classical music performance

To achieve an innovative future, sometimes you have to mine the past. And that’s exactly what Chicago’s Music of the Baroque did Wednesday evening with a brilliantly imaginative concert that traveled back in time more than 300 years.

The 53-year-old ensemble presented a re-creation of a legendary event in classical-music history, when 50 musicians on a barge performed music specifically written for a 1717 trip by England’s King George I along the River Thames from Whitehall Palace to Chelsea and back.

At the behest of the sovereign, famed composer George Frideric Handel wrote what is simply known as “Water Music,” with the king’s boat trailing the musicians as onlookers gathered along the banks and on other boats to watch and hear the spectacle.

And, so it was again on this magical evening in Chicago. There were no king and no courtiers, but there was just about everything else. The 30-member Music of the Baroque Orchestra and 18 members of its chorus joined 26 young singers from Strong Voices, the organization’s outreach initiative in seven Chicago public high schools.

They performed atop a two-deck excursion boat that left from Ogden Slip at 7 p.m. and proceeded slowly up the Chicago River to the Merchandise Mart, with the musicians and singers repeating a 23-minute line-up of music until 8:30 p.m. Included were excerpts from the First and Second Suites from “Water Music,” the famed “Hallelujah” chorus from Handel’s “Messiah” and Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria in D major.

Following just behind and sometimes skirting alongside for better listening was another boat with 150 attendees, including many donors and supporters, and that’s where I experienced this performance.

The Music of the Baroque could not have asked for a better evening. The temperature was perfect, with a striking harvest moon overhead and the extraordinary, shimmering Chicago skyline as a backdrop.

There were, of course, all kinds of sometimes loud ambient noises — sirens, passing L trains, rumbling boats and screeching cars — but it didn’t matter. It was all just part of a wonderful, bustling urban setting as the music danced over the water and echoed off the towering buildings on each side.

In addition to performing while the boat was moving, the musicians and singers made two stops — across from the Merchandise Mart and between LaSalle and Clark streets — performing the entire program at each site. In all, they repeated the line-up four times as they progressed up and down the river.

At the two stops, scores of attendees who had heard about the event were eagerly waiting to take in the music. But most of the concertgoers were happenstance listeners, pedestrians walking across the bridges or along the Chicago Riverwalk, diners in the many restaurants and bars along the water way, or passengers on passing private and tourist boats.

And most seemed to enjoy it as they clapped, waved, cheered, swayed to the music and, of course, raised their phones to take photos and videos. One boater even sounded a loud honk of appreciation at the end of a selection.

More important Wednesday evening than scrutinizing the artistic details of the performance, something best done in a concert hall, was just realizing the larger importance of what was not just a concert but a sprawling event, a happening or, to reuse an earlier word, a spectacle.

Classical music organizations are always looking for alternative venues and fresh ways to connect with audiences, and it hardly gets any better than this. And the whole thing was free (except for the ticketed patrons on the second boat), and all anyone had to do was simply stop and listen.

In desperate bids to be relevant, groups often resort to weird gimmicks or set aside their values, but this undertaking could not have more closely reflected Music of the Baroque’s mission and brand. What was old seemed new and cool. And what if a few of the people who encountered this music actually show up for a more formal concert? That’s a huge, gratifying bonus.

In short, Music of the Baroque’s water excursion was a stupendous success. Don’t be surprised if it becomes an annual event.